Graveyard Petals
by 76percentorganic
Summary: She lays yet another flower upon yet another grave. Life is terminal, after all. NaruSakuSasu


**Chapter One;**

_Erratic_

er·rat·ic: _adj._ 1. Having no fixed or regular course; wandering.

2. Lacking consistency, regularity, or uniformity.

3. Deviating from the customary course in conduct or opinion; eccentric: erratic behavior.

* * *

Slender fingers glided over the smooth skin of the other's hand in a devoted way. A giggle ensued, triggered by the action, and the said diminutive appendage reached out, clasping open and shut, wanting to grasp the toy the young being desired.

A viridian gaze locked with an intelligent mahogany brown one, and the young woman offered over the plaything—a truck—an object that was eagerly taken by the recipient.

The toddler giggled once more, and ambled away a few steps, before gently plopping himself down to his rear end—though, not without the traces of a lingering wince on his juvenile features.

Upon rosy lips, a smile was fashioned, tugging the corners of the orifice upwards in a pleasing fashion. Taking a minute stride after the child, she crouched down beside him. Gently, and ever meticulously, she undid his hospital gown and lowered it so that it resided easily above his waist. The toddler went along with the action flexibly, preoccupied with the prospect of playing more with the toy.

The smile that had played upon her visage showed symptoms of being taut, per usual each time she was faced with this routine, though it eased and became less stressed eventually as she breathed.

The child's bare back, facing towards her, was blemished with burns of the third degree. Tough and near leathery skin clung to his frame, though the burns did not prohibit themselves to simply tarnishing the back; rather, they branched off vaguely onto the back of his arms and to the nape of his neck. It was all disconcerting, for one of such little years to be oppressed by such abrasions, skin seared and charred, an eschar flaunting itself unabashed over his back.

Details had been scarce when the young boy had been rushed into her care, frantic mother scraping together hope that her son would be saved while in the building entitled 'hospital'. The fact that he had been exposed to a house fire had been the little information conveyed to her. She had been told to safely secure the child's life, returning it from the precarious state it had been in—and secure she did.

Into the night she had worked, salvaging what ligaments she could, reattaching them to their places on the proper bones, as well as the various muscles and tendons ruined by burns. She could remember that her chakra—however well she could control it—had been exceedingly low after that procedure, because she had had to carefully curtail the points of her chakra to operate as carefully as she could. And after a long period of time of multitasking between minimizing the amount of chakra going in to the delicate patient, healing beneath the epidermis, and trying to fight back ill-feelings towards nurses that happened to naïvely get in what she called her 'personal space'—basically anything within two feet, so long as she needed no assistance—she still felt the stings of the harsh aftereffect.

But safe to say, as far as the past week was concerned with, the tot was doing well under her care. Beneath the eschar, she could see that the body was beginning to take the first steps towards healing, via chakra. All in all, her work was successful—even her occasionally uptight sensei would praise her for relentlessly dependable performances.

Doing one last quick check over his torso, mending any minor detail that she had happened to forget—more for the sake of assuring herself that the child was safe in her hands than anything else. However, as well as it had come, she would soon had to perform escharotomy, cutting through the eschar that had scabbed over, so that the healthy tissue beneath it could receive the proper amount of blood—she was waiting, because she knew that his fragile body could handle only so much at one point of time.

"There now, Jomei," She stated soothingly, bringing the hospital gown up again and tying it back into place. It seemed as though these daily checkups were becoming quicker each time. Not as though she minded, because after all, it meant that things were going over well.

"Thankoo, Sahkwa-sam." Jomei stated merrily, words which she translated as 'Thank you, Sakura-san'.

In response, she simply smiled, jostled his dark chocolate tresses ever so lightly, and rose. The toddler followed suit, toy truck held tightly in his petite grasp, breaking into a smile when he heard a noxiously loud noise outside the room.

"Please! There are patients sleeping! You must keep as quiet as possible!" A feminine voice rang out, in response to the abrupt and unpleasant noise.

"But _you're_ being just as loud! What kind of example are you, huh?"

"I am not being loud! This is me just trying to talk over someone who's being noxiously deafening!"

"But you're just as "deafening"! Now, I need to go in, so if you could just step aside-"

The female voice cut in, gruff, "She is currently working with a patient this moment, and as you know—or at least as you _should_ know—she can't accept any visitors, lest they're blood relations to the previously mentioned patient. And I know _you_ aren't related to Sato Jomei."

"It's fine, Shizune-san, I am already finished with little Jomei." Sakura stated, as she pushed open the door, sparing a small motion to indicate the toddler at her side.

The said juvenile being looked up at flaxen-haired man before them, chocolate optics meeting bright cobalt ones, and the corners of the little one's mouth tugged upwards so that a grin could be displayed. Ambling over to the young man, Jomei came to a stop before him, teetered a bit, before ultimately gaining balance and lifting up the toy truck, making little pleased noises.

A grin stood firm on the blonde's face. "Heh, how're you doing, Jomei? That's a pretty cool truck you have there."

Jomei gave a few vigorous nods of the head, "I lihke my twuck. It make noses. See?" At this, he crouched and began to roll the toy about, making the little car-like noises that every child seemed apt to quickly learn.

"Really cool. In fact, that might just be the most awesome truck I've ever seen." He avowed, sustaining the grin, and Shizune gave something along the lines of a warped one.

"I'll have to take Jomei, now. His mother's waiting in his room, and you know how frayed her nerves are, with what's happened and all." The black-haired woman stated, though with traces if an apology ringing softly, for slightly interrupting the small pleasantry they had struck up.

"Oh, yes, her nerves—really, I'm surprised she hasn't gotten on the last of mine. The first day after the initial procedure when I was checking up on him, she peppered me with about a million questions." Sakura responded, smiled lightly, and then prolonged her words, "Yes, well, at least she seems to have gotten better. But I sometimes I worry that she'll lose her wits if we wait any longer.

A nod of the head from Shizune, and then she looked to the toddler with a smile embellishing her pleasant features, hand open and held out for him. "Come now, Jomei. I'll bring you to your mother."

"'Kay, 'kay, 'kay." Jomei replied softly, in a vaguely singsong voice. He cast a jovial sidelong glance towards his doctor with a mop of rosette-tresses, offered one last 'vroom' of the truck in the young blonde man's direction, before hefting himself up to his small feet and scuttling over to Shizune.

For a moment, silence was allowed to swathe itself around them, as both green and blue eyes watched the two go. But quickly, they turned their gazes to one another, and smiles of diverse kinds came to play on their faces. One likened to a Cheshire grin, while the other was light and wispy.

The two began walking across the causeway and finally began to pick up the conversation once more, starting off anew and fresh in a non-medical, and thus anti-work related topic for the rosette's sake.

Taking initiative, the young man—who always seemed to radiate with positive ambition—decided to speak first. "So, I hear there's this great new movie coming out this Saturday. If you're not doing anything—"

"Sorry, I'm going out with Ino that night. She seems to think we need to spend as much time together as possible now. I bet she'll make me do everything known to the feminine bonding book, or wherever she's getting all of these crazy plans from." Sakura shrugged, running a hand through her hair.

"Well the how about next Thursda—"

"Right, well, about that… TenTen and Hinata were irate—well, more so TenTen—over the fact that Ino seemed to be monopolizing me, so they demanded that they get at least Tuesday through Thursday with me. Even though I _tried_ to tell them _Ino _wasn't the one monopolizing me," She paused to cut an accusing albeit blissful look at her companion, "They couldn't be reasoned with."

"Alright, then, apparently there is no room for me in your life. Can I demand the day of March fourteenth for a very private, very classy date of ramen?"

"Demand…? Well, that seems a little pushy," The pink kunoichi goaded. "But maybe, if I'm not already doing something completely awesome and time consuming with people that adore me, I think I could slip you in. If you pay for the ramen this time, and use the complete abstract term of "date", your chances are good."

His face fell a little, lips quirking into a charlatan's hurt expression, but his eyes still jingled with laughter.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto drew her name out, his eyebrows already beginning to waggle. "You can't keep shooting me down like that, a man's ego can only be deflated so much. Eventually one of these days, I'm going to grow on you and you're going to have to agree to an official date."

For a moment, she looked thoughtful, emerald eyes discerning him like poised cat might very well do to a rambunctious dog.

"…At least I'm not the one comparing myself to mold. Grow on me? Very clever, you baka." She reprimanded, though without scorn and the vehement punch to the head as she might have done when they were children. Instead, she prodded him a bit with her shoulder, flashing a smile.

The two were already at the entrance of the hospital, time flying by, moment together ending. Naruto leaned against the door softly, mockingly blocking the way. "Better believe it! One of these days, you're not going to be able to resist me. You're going to follow me around and I, as a gentleman, shall let you have your way!"

"Gentleman. Right," Sakura commented skeptically, practically ignoring him completely and using the second door. From her peripheral vision, she could see him sort of flail after being undermined in such a way.

A lukewarm, spring breeze tousled her hair, carrying the smell of new life—as well as her namesake, the sakura trees' beguiling aroma wafting into the air like a sweet perfume. She can feel him walking close behind her. A surreal, pleasant feeling was tearing from the center of her chest.

"I've got to go talk with Lee. It seems he's been trying to make the new genin do a new "Project Workout: Enhancing the Youth!"…or whatever he calls it. Tsunade-sensei doesn't want them to get worn out before they even have a chance to train under the academy. Lee's running around the whole village trying to teach them the power of youth, and the fact Gai-sensei couldn't be prouder doesn't help," Sakura sighed, biting the corner of her lower lip and casting her eyes to the sky. "It should be…eventful."

She stopped before crossing the streets, a carriage or two were mulling past. The roads were busy, probably because of the festival that was coming up. A holiday…

One eyebrow quirked up while the other fell, creating a quizzical look on her diamond-cut features. Sakura could feel his chin resting on her shoulder, a low chuckle escaping his lips; she could bet the world that he was smiling arrogantly. Her own mouth twitched; irritated that she'd been swindled.

"March the fourteenth, huh…? Baka, you could have just used the holiday's name and not snuck around like some grade-school boy. All for doing something with me on White Day…" She had an aggravated smile on her face, pulling roughly at his golden locks.

"Hey, hey!" He winced as she tugged, closing one eye, pressing a little harder into her. "It's too late for you to throw a fuss, you already agreed! What kind of ninja would you be, to ignore a promise?"

"Don't pull ethics into this, you. You're the one that was trying to pull the wool over my eyes," Sakura's eyes rolled, heaving a sigh. "Anyways, who said anything about going back on the arrangement?"

"Growing on you! Look at that, not even ten minutes later and you're already seeing the light. Man, my love must be much more intense than I though!" Naruto laughed, radiating unabashed pleasure.

"You're big-head is weighing me down," Sakura stated icily, stepping forward and into the street, leaving Naruto to regain his balance after having her swept out underneath from him. She weaved around the pedestrians gracefully—ratio of one ninja to seven regular civilians—running a hand through her hair as she turned to look at her stationary companion, the municipal getting in between them. She called back to him, "Don't be a baka and cling to me, train or help the village. A future Hokage shouldn't be hung up with one priority!"

It was rebuking, but with no malice intended whatsoever. A soft smile barely hung onto her face, just for him, before she turned and continued on her path. She didn't have much time, Lee could have already been making the genin do push-ups with nothing but their tongue.

* * *

**A/N: **Yay. This has been sitting on my laptop, waiting for me to finish it up and post it.

Hopefully it turned out well. =D

…I don't have anything else to say. D:

Probably because I'm polluting my mind with too much manga BUT THEN AGAIN, YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TO MUCH MANGA.

Am I right? ;D


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